Fontainebleau High School students find success in morning TV broadcast

Mitch Rabalais was trying to find his rhythm as he followed the words flashing across the teleprompter's screen. The big news of the week, of course, was Jaclyn Sholvin's big game against Archbishop Chapelle High School -- it would play high in the three-plus-minute segment -- and be followed by the schedules of the other sports teams at Fontainebleau High in Mandeville.

Several times during the taping, Alex Traina, working the video camera, and Sam Fontenelle, manning the Teleprompter, stopped Rabalais in his tracks. Early on, the microphone was picking up static. Then, Rabalais misread a sentence on the screen. Later, Traina told him he had stuttered a bit when he should have simply paused.

Imperfections caught, the segment was soon coming to a close. Rabalais smiled at the camera. "Stay classy, Fontainebleau.''

"People seem to like it,'' he said of the ending, which he readily admits to borrowing from the lead character in the movie, "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.'' "I tried Walter Conkrite, but nobody knew what I was talking about.''

Such is the average day for the student broadcasters at Fontainebleau High School's "Bulldog TV." Several mornings each week, a team of students brings a few minutes of news and sports to the rest of the students via the school's video system. The news and sports are supplemented with a weekly talk show segment, "Close Up,'' and a students-in-the-hallway Q&A called "Around the Pound.''

Under the watch of broadcast teacher Jeanne Dutel, a former television reporter, the segments are taped in advance, which provides time for the students to plan, edit and polish. Segments can range from a general announcement of school events to interviews with teachers on such weighty topics as breast cancer.

"My awesome dozen. That's what I call them,'' Dutel said of the students.

If high school is one of life's laboratories, Room 215, where the taping takes place, is one of its petri dishes. The students come and go, taking turns behind the camera, at the anchor desk or on the couch and recliner that comprise the talk show set.'

"People really like it,'' said Katelyn Mulkey, a Mandeville senior. "We'll be walking down the halls and teachers will grab us and say, 'Put this announcement on!'''

The students aren't only learning about television broadcasting, but about setting schedules, hitting deadlines and working as teams. One of the students, Maya Catanzaro, landed an internship with the St. Tammany Parish school district's Channel 13 cable access channel.

"It's a lot of work, but we have a lot of fun,'' said Meaghan Boucher, a senior from Slidell, who along with Grace Valentine hosts "Close Up.''

"It's a lot like 'The View' -- or like 'Jerry Springer' sometimes,'' Valentine, a senior from Mandeville, said in describing the talk show.

The hard work is paying off, Dutel said. The students recently entered the Louisiana Scholastic Press Association competition and took first place in "best newscast" and "best sportscast," and second-place in "station excellence" and "news feature."

Several of the students plan to study broadcasting and communications in college. Rabalais, a senior from Abita Springs, hopes to be in front of -- or behind -- the camera at LSU next year.

He said his fellow students seem to enjoy the videos the crew produces, at least judging by the feedback he gets in the hallways. "I hear good things for the most part,'' he said.

The taping of the sports segment was just the beginning of the process Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 18). Traina, who the rest of the students praised for his editing ability, would take it from there, sharpening and polishing the sportscast during his free time between exams to get it ready for broadcast Friday morning, the last day of school before the Christmas/winter break.

If he was bothered by the deadline, Traina, a junior from Mandeville, sure didn't show it.